View full sizeNicole Dungca/The OregonianA citizens advisory committee is looking into Uplands Elementary School as one of the schools that could close next year to cut costs. On Monday, the final vote on the closures was scheduled for April 25.

While the final decision on elementary school closures in the Lake Oswego School District is delayed until April 25, a citizens advisory committee will further examine a proposal that could spread out the closure process over multiple school years.

The committee's agenda lengthened yet again Monday after Board Chair Curt Sheinin issued another request: the board suggested the group model a proposal that shuts just one school next year. The move could give board members the option of fully implementing a two-school or three-school closure plan after the 2011-12 school year, he said.

According to the new schedule, the board will decide April 25 on any closure recommendations. After the committee presents its recommendation on April 12, the board will hold a public hearing on April 18.

The board will take into consideration several economic factors -- including state funding, additional city funds, foundation donations and contract negotiations -- before they approve shuttering any elementary schools.

Board members primarily asked the 20-person committee to choose the two elementary schools to shut in addition to Bryant Elementary School, which would be used as part of a Waluga Junior High School complex in the closure plans. Committee members chose Palisades and Uplands as preliminary choices for the chopping block last week.

As the committee delved into more data, however, some worried that a three-school closure plan would eliminate classroom space for programs outside of the core curriculum, such as extended care, full-day kindergarten or pre-kindergarten classes.

To look for alternatives to such cuts, the group began researching a proposal that closes two schools instead: Bryant Elementary School on the south side and one other school on the north, which would likely be Uplands. Members on Monday stressed that none of the plans have been set in stone.

“I couldn’t tell you right now where we’re leaning,” committee member Rebecca Saas told the board on Monday. “We don’t know yet where we’re going to end.”

The uncertainty of the process hung over the heads of some in the audience, and the prospect of a closure timeline that extends beyond the next school year exasperated some community members.

Forest Hills Elementary School parent Siouxsie Jennett called herself a proponent of the original three-school closure proposal and said she was “disappointed to hear that we can’t come to a conclusion readily and move on.”

Though she said she has faith that the “fractured” community could come together again after any closures, she thought it would be more difficult with a drawn-out process that happens over multiple school years: “If we prolong this for another year, we have the potential to really fracture this, and scar it.”

Superintendent Bill Korach said he understood the concerns of a prolonged process, but also said he considered it a "wise" choice for the board to consider. Korach said having more time to implement big changes could allow for better planning.

“I think it’s true that the longer one waits with uncertainty, the more difficult it gets,” said Superintendent Bill Korach. “But it’s equally true that if you don’t work on it to get it to be the best possible choice it can be, that’s a problem.”